This invention relates generally to power management systems and methods, and more particularly, to power management systems and methods for cooking platforms.
There exist different types of cooking platforms which incorporate various appliances that can be activated individually or simultaneously. For example, a typical electric household range includes an oven and generally four surface heating elements. Once the cooking platform is connected within a household, there will be a preset power supply limit available for use by the cooking platform. In most instances, there exist building codes which must be adhered to in wiring for such a cooking platform such that the available power supply is typically pre-established.
With the above in mind, appliances have associated power consumption levels that should not collectively exceed the available power supply to the cooking platform. In this manner, it is assured that all of the appliances in the cooking platform can be simultaneously activated without overloading the electrical circuitry and blowing a fuse. However, from a practical standpoint, it is actually quite rare that all of the appliances will require activation at the same time.
Certainly, some versatility and other benefits can be made available to a consumer if the cooking platform were to incorporate either additional high powered appliances, even if these appliances were to collectively exceed the available power supply limit if simultaneously activated. For instance, in the case of an electric household range, it may be advantageous to increase the available upper power input for the oven and/or the surface burners, or to even incorporate a second oven unit as part of the overall range. Without correspondingly decreasing the power rating of the individual appliances to safeguard against a system overload, these design changes are typically not available.